”And now, Harry, let us step out into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure.”

In the wake of epic confrontation in the Department of Mysteries, Harry Potter and his friends start their sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It is rather more quiet than the fifth, but contains some incredibly intriguing aspects. An elusive Draco Malfoy, a book containing the scribbles of the enigmatic Half-Blood Prince, and more information on the backstory of a certain Hogwarts student of old by the name of Tom Riddle.

From a more objective point of view, I would not hesitate to say that this book was not as good as the fifth one, which has been by far the best in the Harry Potter series. Personally however, I may have enjoyed this one more. Mostly because there are few things I enjoy more than backstory. And while this series lacks a lot in many aspects, it does have a bunch of wildly interesting characters. Dumbledore and Snape are definitely among them. But above them all rises Tom Riddle.

That being said, Dumbledore was by far my favourite character at the end of the fifth book, and he remains so at the end of the sixth.

n  ”It is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more.”n

An unexpected death left me reeling!!!
What will happen next?

A este punto J.K. Rowling desbarata con fundamentos a quien sea que se haya atrevido a encasillar a la saga bajo el rótulo de infantil. Este libro no podría distar más de la fantasiosa y casi ingenua obra que nos permitió acercarnos por primera vez al mundo mágico. El misterio del principe es una novela oscura, profunda, que posee casi más elementos turbulentos y psicológicos que fantasiosos.

Dumbledore, reconociendo la madurez de Harry y lo inminente que resulta el enfrentamiento que vaticina aquella profecía que une su destino al de Voldemort, empieza a desvelarle -y desvelarnos- verdades que nos desarman por su agudeza. El pasado de Voldemort. Los horrocruxes. La misión que le aguarda a Harry.

En medio de estas revelaciones, también, nos topamos con el incesante misterio que le quita el sueño a nuestro protagonista acerca de las acciones de Draco. La autora decide proporcionarle más relevancia al adjudicarle una misión y darnos una vaga visión de su tormento. Pero no es el único personaje que nos inquieta. El principe mestizo, quien ayuda a Harry a destacar en pociones, también cobra un giro auténticamente mordaz al ser identificado como Snape y al resultar éste un mortifágo cortando, o al menos eso nos hacen creer, con el rol de doble agente.

El desenlace es perturbador. La muerte alcanza a un personaje sin el que la saga nos parecía inconcebible y sus consecuencias redefinen tanto el rumbo como la fuerza de las motivaciones de nuestro protagonista. La novela, que supo contener matices más ligeros aventurando a los personajes en la búsqueda del amor y la exploración de inquietudes típicas de la adolescencia, acaba imponiéndoles el peso de una misión que excede a su edad pero que coincide con la madurez que han alcanzado tras tantas insólitas batallas.

A un paso del final, la saga nunca resultó más compleja o fascinante.

This is when Rowling really focused on the finish. No more f-ing around. This woman had a job to do.

In a way, I was glad the sports championships, tournaments and other silly asides were done with. On the other hand, the story became singleminded in scope. As readers we were no longer inhabiting the world of Harry Potter, we were now on a quest. As much as I've complained about those silly asides, I realized after finishing this book (and especially after the next one) that I missed them. Diversions done well are a nice relief and can add so much depth to story and character.

If there is something to be said about the story and character of Harry Potter, it's that our boy is all growed up. Book #6 is a far cry from #1.

A big and important step is taken in the The Half-Blood Prince. Rowling shows she is not afraid to kill off her most precious babies. Some would say the series had to end at some point and that the killings were not so bold. Ah, but many a publishing and movie executive would disagree and cry out, "Why?! Why kill the cash cow?!?!" Well, she did. Finally Rowling did kill it. She brought this whole satisfying series to an end, and this is its beginning.

I know so many of you have this book as one of your favorites and I get it. This is where everything gets a more grown up take. Harry Potter feels like a solid human now and if I had read these when I was a teen, god I would have gone ballistic over all the dating and the good old British SNOGGING in this book.

  

And even though I have a lot of highlights from this book, this was definitely not one of my favorites due to how repetitive it felt at times. I understand JK might have tried to misdirect readers so they wouldn't see the obvious which was my first theory as soon as Dumbledore's rotting hand showed up:

1 Dumbledore was already dying.

2 Dumbledore premeditated (because if any characters in this series would do this, it would be him lol) and planned his own death and made sure to ask Snape to be the one to do it.

3 Having Snape kill him would make sure that he would give the order more time to find a way to end Voldemort and Snape would remain a faithful servant to the Dark Lord.

4 Dumbledore fought everyone and their mother over how much he trusted Snape because HE KNEW Snape would do anything to avenge Lily's death.

You gotta appreciate all the work she put into this twist, I obviously was able to see all of this straight away because I have read over a thousand books in my life and I am an adult. But I can imagine how incredible this must have felt as a teen/kid. It makes me so excited to read these with my children when I have them.

  

You know I am not interested in the good guys. I want the multi-layered characters. I want Snape, I want Tom, I want Dumbledore. I want the cunning and conniving characters who aren't inherently good and who follow their own nature. (And yes, Dumbledore is one of those, you can't change my mind)

Snape is now one of my favorite characters of all time and so is Tom Riddle. He is so fucking creepy and well written so I love him too.

YOU CAN ALL JUDGE ME IF YOU WANT BUT

  

I didn't cry when Dumbledore died. Honestly, I never saw him as a mentor nor a father figure to Harry. Lupin, Sirius, and even Mr. Weasley have been more of a father figure to him than Dumbledore ever was. Dumbledore just had a weird fascination with Harry because he knew he was important and he knew he was smart enough to scheme his life away and play with fate, roll dices on who he could be. Control the twists and turns of his life. Dumbledore was interested in Harry the same way he was interested in Tom. And exactly for the same reasons.

It was never about the greater good. It was about power to control their future and their narrative. The "greater good" was just a bonus lol You know how he talks about Slughorn wanting to collect students like trophy? Pfff. Dumbledore is the real MASTER at that.

Overall, this is not a book I'd see myself rereading, but I can appreciate how much it made me LOVE SNAPE EVEN MORE. (We have already had the Snape conversation in my Order of The Phoenix review, leave me alone)

But he gets even more bonus points for sparing Draco. For protecting Draco. For not allowing Draco to carry Dumbledore's death on his back for the rest of his life.

  

Snape did what no one else in this universe would EVER HAVE THE BALLS TO DO. That is why he is a fucking awesome weirdo creepy lovely man.

Always been my favorite out of the seven.

Do you know what is better than this book (this book being already amazing)? This book narrated by Stephen Fry.
I swear, this was my second attempt EVER to listen to an audiobook and the narration was so good I actually enjoyed it so much. And I hate listening to audiobooks!

OK. I'm prepared to admit I've read it. As someone once said about Jeffrey Archer novels, it's rather like a packet of stale chips. You keep taking them out and eating them, hoping that the ones at the bottom are little better. But they're not. After a while, you notice that the bag is empty, and you feel rather disgusted with yourself.

She claims the whole story was planned from the beginning. Yeah, right. Though, to be fair, she's in good company; Proust said something similar about A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu. He didn't come across as very credible either.
_________________________

If you still don't believe me about the links between Proust and Potter, look here. If that doesn't convince you, I give up. There's such a thing as being too sceptical for your own good.

Re-Read, 1/13/23:

Finished this with my girl on the wonderfully appropriate Friday the 13th. :)

Lucky, unlucky, death, oppression, and a much better book than the movie.

My girl loved it, of course, even if she was super sad. But on a positive note, she was as pissed about what was left out of the movie as I was. So much action, better reveals, better UNDERSTANDING of what was going on. Alas.

A very good book, growing better with re-reads.


Original Review:

Buddy Re-Read continues!

I read this last almost the day after it originally came out and was amazed at the big reveals... Guess who Dies and guess who the Prince is! ... but more than that, I was pretty blah and then very enthused as we learned more and more and more and more about Mr. Riddle as Harry kept sticking his head under water. It was a hate/love relationship for me. I wanted to know about our big bad. I really did. And then I also wanted to just get over all the cleverly-installed flashbacks and get on with the freaking story.

That was before the movie.

And so the movie came out and I was all like... Where is all the backstory for Voldemort? This is hardly anything! This is just a brief little taste! How are we supposed to feel the deep revulsion AND pity for the man if we can't get more screen time for him??? And so I fell BACK on the bandwagon for all those pretty flashbacks.

Ah, the trials and tribulations of a fanboy.

This is like knowing Frank Herbert's Dune inside and out and then watching the Lynch mindf*** and spending more than 3/4 of the movie filling in all the details that are left unsaid in the film that make the story deeper and more amazing than the acid trip that I was watching.

Okay. Maybe the HP6 film wasn't QUITE that bad and there were a lot of brilliant moments that were visual and direct link-ups to the main plot in the HP7 movies, so continuity was preserved very well. Still, the lack of time with Snape's younger cursecrafting self and the lack of all the mystery subplot with Dumbledore, himself, made the end events kind of rushed and confusing within the movie.

Not so at all within the book.

The book was a real page-turner for me. Again. I love in-depth reasons. A lot. :)


Still a great book! :)

JUST WHEN YOU THINK THE PAIN CANT GET ANY WORSE

Not my favorite from the series but still one of the best books out there.

Welcome to my re-read of the phenomenal series “Harry Potter”.